Venetian Fritole Recipe

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These Frittole, Fritole or fritters are a speciality of the Veneto during Carnevale. Be warned, they are addictive! An alternative to cooking them at home...if you are in Venice is here!

Between Candlemas (2nd of February) and Martedí Grasso (Fat Tuesday) the Venetians celebrate Carnevale. The festivities are not the drunken bashes associated with Mardi Gras. The focus is on the beautiful costumes that recall the history of Venice. There are many costumes that would be considered performance art.

This is one of my favourite dolci recipes. The fritole are much more than a donut or a simple fritter.

Venetian Frittole Recipe
Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups + 2/3 cup milk
  • l tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup lukewarm water
  • 1 ounce yeast (1-1/2 cakes)
  • 1 tsp + 1 pinch sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups flour, sifted
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup grappa (substitute rum if necessary)
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 1/3 cup raisins
  • cooking oil for deep frying
  • powdered sugar

Directions

  1. Soak the raisins in the grappa.
  2. Break up the yeast in the 1/4 cup lukewarm water in a small bowl. Add a pinch of sugar and set aside. If the yeast is fresh, bubbles should begin to form immediately.
  3. Put the sifted flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Mix in 1 1/4 cups milk.
  4. Add the egg and mix well.
  5. While stirring, add the yeast-water mixture and an additional 2/3 cup milk.
  6. Continue stirring until smooth. This should be a very thick, doughy batter.
  7. Bubbles will start to form within the batter.
  8. Add the raisins, pine seeds, and remaining grappa and mix well.
  9. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place it in a warm, draft free spot.
  10. Allow the batter to rise for about 3 hours.
  11. Fill a deep fryer or a saucepan half full of good cooking oil. Heat the oil to 375F.
  12. Wet a tablespoon with cold water. Scoop up the batter, and with a moistened a thumb, push the batter off the spoon into the hot oil (Be careful of the oil. By dropping the batter in close to the surface you will prevent splashing.)
  13. Repeat with 4 or 5 more spoonfuls of batter. Cook the fritter until it has an even deep golden brown color, turning it once or twice during cooking. The fritters should not be too big.
  14. Remove the fritters from the oil and drain on a paper towel. Cut open this test fritter to make sure that it is cooked through. If so, proceed as described above for the remaining batter, cooking 4 or 5 fritters at a time.
  15. When the fritters have cooled, roll them in powdered sugar and place on a platter.

The Venice Carnival Photo Book

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My  photo book  "Carnival in Venice 2011" is out, it is about 40 pages and more than 50 photographs. You can take a look at the preview of few pages

Every year Venice celebrates Carnival, which lasts for two weeks and ends on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, so today was the final day! Compared to last year, the last day of this year's Venice carnival is estimated to have witnessed a rise in tourist numbers. The combined figures offered by Venice police and hotel operators suggest that as many as 160,000 tourists were in Venice for the annual carnival's closing Sunday.

It has been a very busy and intense 2 weeks, but with lots of fun as well and hundreds of pictures.